{"id":19514,"date":"2009-07-21T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-22T02:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=19514"},"modified":"2020-01-31T22:00:54","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T04:00:54","slug":"should-the-lords-supper-be-only-taken-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-the-lords-supper-be-only-taken-at-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the Lord’s Supper be only taken at night?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

What is the Bible’s answer to the controversy about the time the Lord’s Supper should be taken on the first day of the week? Should it be only at night or any time upon the first day of the week?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

I know of no controversy regarding what time of the day the Lord’s Supper should be taken. The one example of time is: “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight<\/em>” (Acts 20:7). Notice that it was on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to partake of the Lord’s Supper. The phrasing tells us how often. They didn’t do it once a year or once a month, they did it once a week.<\/p>\n

But that same phrasing leaves it open as to when disciples came together to partake of the Lord’s Supper. We actually don’t know at what time of day the disciples came together at Troas. We only know that Paul preached until midnight; we don’t know when he started. It would be false to insist that it had to be at night since God didn’t tell us.<\/p>\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I agree with the idea and position completely. I am a member of the body of Christ (Church of Christ). A few members in the same congregation are of the opinion that in Acts 20:8 there was the mention that there were many lights in the room, an indication that the disciples at Troas met at night; and therefore, it is binding for people to take the Lord\u2019s Supper at night. That was why I called it controversy in my question. Do you have any contribution to make to this?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

See:\u00a0Following Bible Examples<\/a>, in particular, the section on distinguishing between the incidental and the essential. You have people trying to bind an incidental. It would be like claiming that the Lord’s Supper could only be taken in a second-story room.<\/p>\n

The context (Acts 20:7) tells us that the day of the week, not the time of the day determined when the disciples gathered. If a congregation decided that evening works best for its members, then they ought to pick the time of day that works best for those who attend. As an example, I have a historical quote about Christians gathering before dawn for worship. The reason is simple, it was a slave society at that time and that would be the best time for Christians, who were slaves, to meet — before their masters awoke for the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: What is the Bible’s answer to the controversy about the time the Lord’s Supper should be taken on the first day of the week? Should it be only at night or any time upon the first day of the week? Answer: I know of no controversy regarding what time of the day the Lord’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-19514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-lords-supper"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24573,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-worship-have-to-be-on-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":19514,"position":0},"title":"Does worship have to be on Sunday?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was discussing with someone about coming to church on Sundays. What day should we meet? Does it matter which day during the week? Under persecution, you might not be able to meet Sundays, so I was wondering: does it matter the day the church meets? I do know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51913,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-isnt-the-lords-supper-taken-as-the-last-meal-of-the-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":19514,"position":1},"title":"Why isn’t the Lord’s Supper taken as the last meal of the day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why is the Lord's Supper taken early in the day on Sunday and not in the evening? After all, supper is something that is taken in the evening. Answer: In English, \"supper\" refers to the last mean of the day. The memorial in which we remember Christ's death is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-know-that-the-lords-supper-wasnt-taken-once-a-year-in-troas\/","url_meta":{"origin":19514,"position":2},"title":"How do we know that the Lord’s Supper wasn’t taken once a year in Troas?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was doing some searching on the Internet and discovered an argument against Acts:20:7 that I've never encountered. Since Acts 20:7 is the only reference we use (that I know of) to decide how often we take the Lord's Supper this is pretty important. Acts 20:6 says they sailed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65447,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-lords-supper-taken-only-once-a-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":19514,"position":3},"title":"Was the Lord’s Supper taken only once a year?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day. A friend of mine told me that the breaking of bread in Acts 20:7 is not the Lord's Supper or Passover because it is only a breaking of bread without the grape juice as stated in the context. The breaking of bread is a celebration of Jesus'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8432,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-must-the-lords-supper-be-taken-every-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":19514,"position":4},"title":"Why must the Lord’s Supper be taken every week?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why is it necessary to celebrate the Lord\u2019s Table every week and not, say, once a month or whenever we feel like it? Answer: \"For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20165,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-they-met-at-night-in-acts-207ff-does-that-mean-christians-today-should-only-meet-at-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":19514,"position":5},"title":"Since they met at night in Acts 20:7ff, does that mean Christians today should only meet at night?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In your article, \"When Are Biblical Examples Binding?\" you mentioned that there is no specific command as to when to partake of the Lord's Supper, but that Acts 20:7 becomes a binding example because it is the only example. If this is true which I feel it is true,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}